The one thing that has jumped out from the first handful of games this season is that the Houston Astros are going to be of little fantasy help from the hitting side. In fact, with the exception leadoff man Jose Altuve – who is hitting .438 heading into Saturday’s game, if early trends continue, they will actually hurt your team.

Not that it wasn’t unexpected, we just had no idea how bad they were going to be.

It started in the MLB opener last Sunday when their 2-3-4 hitters – Brett Wallace, Chris Carter and Carlos Pena – fanned eight times in 12 at-bats, including two each against Rangers starter Matt Harrison, who is no strikeout artist (5.57 career k/9 rate). That fear was further cemented when the Astros, as a team, whiffed a stunning 43 times in their next three games. That’s double-digit Ks in all four outings during which time Wallace, Carter and Pena have combined to go 4-for-43 with a mind-boggling 28 whiffs. AL West starting pitchers are suddenly looking a lot